ike the alcohol percentage in wine debate, the issue of appropriate closures has also amped up. In its ongoing effort to ensure balanced editorial on important topics, APPELLATION AMERICA continues to post well-studied thoughts by opinion makers.

George M. Taber, author of Judgment of Paris (2005) has just released his second, well-researched book, To Cork or Not to Cork (Scribner, NY, October 2007), in which he reports that an expert wine taster can note cork taint when only one part per trillion (ppt) is present in a wine. An average consumer will usually detect it at about five ppt. As a point of comparison, "one ppt is equivalent to one second in 320 centuries," he details. "But it's enough to ruin a bottle of wine."

No one knows precisely when the first cork was inserted as the closure for a wine bottle. A good estimate is that for four centuries, natural cork has been the wine bottle closure of choice. Yet, in the 1980s, 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA), which was identified in that decade by a Swiss researcher, began to cause cork-taint problems that nearly forced some wineries out of business.

In the August 20, 2007 APPELLATION AMERICA posting "To Screw Cap Wine Bottles or Not", Tablas Creek Vineyard General Manager Jason Haas said, "Industry estimates range from three percent to as high as 10 percent of corks are tainted. Even at three percent, this is a very large number of bottles that are ruined each year. For a winery the size of Tablas Creek, this means that we could potentially release over 5,000 compromised bottles."

According to Taber, cork's critics consider that failure rate to be "both outrageous and unacceptable. They repeatedly argue that if three percent to five percent of Toyota cars or IBM computers failed, those companies would be out of business."

How did the cork taint problem get so bad and why has it been allowed to go on so long? There’s two answers for that: the historical one and the scientific one.

Historically, Taber lays cork taint escalation directly at the feet of the Portuguese cork supply industry. He begins his historical details in the late 1960s with the research of Hans Tanner at the Wädenswil Institute in Switzerland, then time warps to his personal visit to the Portuguese wine industry in 1975, as a continuation of his work on the taint problem. Back then, Tanner noticed workers boiling batches of corks in caldrons of chlorinated water to bleach them and suspected that this caused the TCA problem.

According to Taber, after publishing his study, Tanner received a letter from the head of Gütlig Corks stating he should not have done this because "it would give cork a bad image." Taber questioned Tanner 25 years later asking why he believed that the Portuguese cork industry ignored his work. The answer: "They felt that if they ignored the problem, it would go away. They were also afraid that if they examined their corks, too many of them would be rejected."

Taber comments that "Given the [Portuguese cork] industry's inability to control the quality of its product and [since it had a] market monopoly for closures, it's not surprising that the cork industry as a whole chose to do nothing and to blame any problems on its consumers or just ignore them." Taber concludes that this attitude caused two decades of delay in action to alleviate the problems identified in 1981.

Nowhere in any wine trade journal have we read such a biting condemnation of the Portuguese cork industry. We asked Taber if he believed that this may be because trade journals depend on cork supply advertising, and they too, ignored the issue. Taber says that he can't speak for industry publications, yet adds, " There is no question that the Portuguese cork industry is a very big advertiser in many wine publications, and the division of what journalists call “church and state” is not always as clear as it should be in wine publications. Editorial decisions are clearly sometimes made on the basis of advertising. That having been said, some publications or journalists have taken strong stands on the issue. One that comes immediately to mind is James Laube of Wine Spectator, who is strongly anti-cork. His publication, though, has not been totally on one side of the issue."

The Long Search For Solutions

Chapters that Taber dedicates to TCA problem solutions read like a David Baldacci page-turning novel. In addition to a scathing attack on the Portuguese cork trade, he tackles the French cover-up of its corked wines, including Champagnes, in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, in the same time frame, with California winemakers literally shouting for a closure other than natural cork, or the plastic alternatives which were then available, Supreme Corq was born with Murphy-Goode in Sonoma County's Alexander Valley, St Francis in Sonoma, Bonny Doon in Santa Cruz and Chateau Ste. Michelle in Washington State offering guidance in product development.

We spoke with St. Francis Winery winemaker Tom Mackey who said that in 1995, using the beige/tan cork color, he switched to Supreme Corq for all bottlings. Before that, from 1992 to 1995, he used Cellucork.

"After 15 years of using synthetic closures and testing others," Mackey says, "we believe that the perfect closure has yet to be invented. That said, we have been and continue to use Supreme Corq for St. Francis Sonoma County wines since they provide a good seal and are virtually taint free. We have been using natural corks for our Artisan Wines and the new Wild Oak brand for the past two years. We believe natural corks provide better aging in wines past eight or nine years of bottling. Cork taint is not eradicated but is much lessened from 10 to 15 years ago. We will continue to experiment with new closures in the years to come."

With better mouse traps always in order, competition created Neocork, Nomacork and others. Yet today, natural corks still control more than 80 percent of the market for wine bottle closures. However, Portuguese cork producers can no longer ignore alternatives. And, truth be told, winemakers can't continue to ignore problems such as lack of tight fit, when there are now alternatives with which to avoid wine oxidation. One element, however, is clear. "Supreme Corq," writes Taber, "created greater public awareness of cork's problems by offering the wine world and its customers a credible solution."

Taber explains conditions other than natural corks that can result in tainted wines. Along with research that proved TCA is the cause of cork taint, it was discovered that a TCA first molecular cousin, 2,3,4,6-tetrachloroanisole (TeCA), could originate from chlorine-based pentachlorophenol, one of the compounds in wood preservatives widely used in wineries. "Insecticides may also contain tetrachlorophenols, pentachlorophenols or tribromophenols that can turn into foul-smelling anisoles," Taber's research indicates.

However, Taber says not all people can detect TCA and its cork source is not the only issue. What then, does this mean for the wine industry and also for consumers? "I hope," Taber responds, "that as a result of my book and greater discussion of the issue, more serious wine consumers will become aware of not only the TCA problem but also the even less well understood one of reduction that clearly takes place with some wines under screw caps. Knowledgeable and informed consumers can then make their own decision.

"I wish more people could recognize low levels of corkiness and understand that it can come from either the cork in the bottle or problems in the cellar such as happened to the French in the 1980s and at Hanzell Vineyards, located in Sonoma Valley . From the industry’s point of view, I wish that they would stop trying to stonewall the issue as the French industry did in the 1980s and as big California wineries like Beaulieu Vineyard did later. Consumers have the right to get straight answers from wine producers and too often they have been getting no answers or evasive ones."

Sometimes It’s Not the Cork that’s Tainted – It’s the Cellar

If a winemaker is unable to detect TCA, then isn't it possible that wine enters the marketplace tainted but not from a cork? "I think," Taber explains, "systemic cellar taint like that in France in the 1980s or more recently in Latin America is a much bigger problem than the bottle here or there with cork taint caused by a bad cork. The reason is that cellar taint can affect the whole production of a winery and not just a bottle at a time. I personally think that cork manufacturers are doing a better and cleaner job of producing corks, and that will reduce the incidence of bad single corks. But that doesn’t eliminate the problem of cork taint in a winery. It’s really too bad that the same term is used for both tainted corks and tainted cellars because they are very different and have different causes. But that’s probably not going to change."

If a wine retailer or sommelier can't detect TCA, how does this impact the industry and consumers? "I’d make a distinction between the retailer and the sommelier," Taber continues answering our questions. "A retailer can’t test every bottle he sells, but he should be ready to stand behind everyone he sells. I think retailers could make it much clearer that they stand behind the product they sell, even if they don’t make it.

"The Duke of Bourbon in Los Angeles is quoted in the book as saying it will replace corked wines, and I wish others would make that very clear. The problem, of course, is that it may be years between the time a bottle is sold and when it is consumed. It’s obviously hard to take back a bottle that’s been in a cellar for 20 years. I don’t have any sympathy for sommeliers because they should be tasting bottles for TCA and keeping them away from consumers. I don’t think enough of them have been properly trained to recognize the problem. It’s not really that hard once you have been exposed to it."

Since Taber says in his book that it's possible that TCA can originate from sources other than corks, we pressed for clarification. "There are a few anecdotal and confirmed cases of TCA problems in other products that have nothing to do with wine or corks," Taber affirms. "I cited several of them, including the case of Heineken beer and Nomacorc plastic stoppers. I heard that TCA is a widespread problem in coffee beans and has even gotten the nickname 'the taste of Rio,' but I couldn’t confirm that.

"TCA is very powerful and is easily transferred. It would be fairly easy for a bottle of wine that got TCA from a contaminated cellar to then have that transferred to the cork. It might look like a chicken and the egg problem, but the consumer trying the wine wouldn’t know the ultimate source of the problem. It’s still a spoiled bottle of wine."

How about plastic corks…or screwcaps?

Like Mackey, Taber also admits that "neither plastic corks nor screw caps are perfect. Many experts maintain that screw caps create their own taste problems, just different ones from corks." When we asked Taber to expand this thought and offer examples, he said, "The most common problem with the current generation of plastic corks is oxidation. This is when the seal is not strong enough and air seeps into the bottle and prematurely ages the wine. It becomes dark in color and has a woody taste.

"It can happen with natural cork, but is much more common with plastic corks because plastic does not provide as good a seal as a good natural cork. If you see a wine with a brown hew, it is probably oxidized. I wouldn’t hold a bottle under plastic cork for more than two or three years. The most common problem with the current generation of screw caps is reduction. I thought Alan Limmer [owner/winemaker of Stonecroft Wines in New Zealand's Hawke's Bay region] did a very good job of describing this in Chapter 19 of the book. He and others say that they get tastes of rotten eggs or onions from reduced wines. As screwcaps become more widely used, I think you’ll be seeing more of that. Reduction is even less understood than TCA, but it’s likely to be a growing problem."

Both large and small companies are trying to develop other alternatives, Taber notes. Alcoa, the giant aluminum company is selling a glass stopper. In an interview with veteran Beringer Vineyards winemaster Ed Sbragia, we learned the glass closure option has proven satisfactory and he's encouraged his winemaker son Adam to use them when bottling Sbragia Family wines.

Taber also cites companies trying to remove tainting material from raw cork. There's even a condom solution of putting a thin membrane over the cork's end to stop taint from leaching into wine. He believes that cork companies are "terrified" of losing market share. "Until recently," he says, "cork companies sat on their monopoly and blamed everyone else for their problem. In the last five years, major cork companies have been spending huge amounts of money on research. Some, but not all, have improved their quality control. They're having some success, but haven't totally solved the problem and may never be able to."

Since 20 billion wine bottle closures are used each year, Taber cites that the wine closure business is $4 billion worldwide, although that's down from a virtual monopoly two decades ago. Plastic corks total 2.3 billion and "despite all the hoopla and recent success, screw caps are still only about 1.5 billion."

After all his research and writing on the subject, Taber does not apparently, prefer one closure over another. "There's no perfect solution," he responds to a pointed question. "For Sauvignon Blanc, a wine made to be drunk young, a screw cap is fine and convenient. For Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz, which improve with bottle age, a natural cork helps graceful aging. We have entered the age of multiple wine closures, and that will be good for both wine consumers and winemakers."

Do Consumers Understand What Closure is Better?

Will consumers understand this? What word do wineries need to get out to consumers on choices it has made? And how will they do that? "I may be naïve," Taber responds, "but I think informed wine drinkers will understand the issues and start making their purchasing decisions, at least in part, on the basis of what’s sealing the bottle. I’m a big fan of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and it’s almost impossible to find one these days with a cork. That’s fine. But at the same time, I wouldn’t want to keep a bottle of it around for a couple of years when reduction is likely to be taking place.

"Go with a screw cap, but drink it early and don’t let it get old. The opposite is true of age-worthy reds. I think Australia’s Brian Croser, who has had extensive experience with both screw caps and cork, is convincing when he says that wines, especially reds but also some high-end whites, need a little air to improve with age. I think the screw cap people are making a mistake when they claim that screwcaps are perfect for all wines. That’s the same mistake the cork folks made for centuries. The closure decision depends on a lot of things."

Since more consumers are concerned with the environment, the question about what's best for the environment has reared its head as well. Some environmental groups are urging wineries to go green, citing that cork is the best choice for the environment because alternative closures are not recyclable.

How does Taber react to this? "Cork producers are gathering any allies they can find," he responds, "and in these days of environmental awareness and global warning, they have found a big one with the greens. I personally have felt that, like so much else in this debate, both sides overstate their arguments.

Some wineries are obviously trying to stand out in a crowded marketplace by taking clear stands. All the cork forests, however, aren’t going to be cemented over with strip malls if the world starts using more screw caps. This is a billion dollar fight, and people will roll out any argument they can to support their case. I don’t think wine consumers should be making their decisions on closures on the basis of which closure is best for the environment, and I doubt many of them are actually doing it. They should be asking which closure is better for the wine and for my ultimate enjoyment of the wine experience."

Yet we wonder, aren't there a growing number of winemakers who are so angry at having their wine destroyed by natural corks that they'll choose screw caps over anything else, even if it's not as good for the wine? Perhaps. As Australia's winemaker Brian Croser notes: "It's scary how passionate people can be on this topic. Prejudice and extreme positions have taken over and science has often gone out the window."